FUNERAL FOR A FRIEND | LIVE REVIEW
Y Plas, Cardiff University Students Union, Tue 5 Apr
Tonight marks the first Cardiff date of Funeral For A Friend’s farewell tour – the second follows the night after, again at Y Plas, with a third at Clwb Ifor Bach on Sat 23 Apr – and emotions are running high. Feelings for this band run deep around here: Funeral’s integrity, DIY values and undoubted success have been genuinely inspirational for many of tonight’s attendees, as reflected in the sustained bellows of appreciation that greet the band’s entry onto the stage.
Basking in the glow of the crowd’s affection for a moment, frontman Matt Davies-Kreye beams delightedly, offers a few words of gratitude then leads Funeral into a pounding All The Rage, the opening number of Hours, Funeral’s second album, which they hammer through over the course of the next 45 minutes.
The set serves as a reminder of what an excellent album Hours is: a collection of some of the band’s finest moments, from the raging Streetcar to the uplifting History – its “Archers in your arches…” refrain lifting the roof off the venue tonight, as the whole room howls it in unison.
Davies-Kreye is in a reflective mood, providing context to the songs and expanding on the meanings of many, keen to ensure that he shares what they are about while he still has a platform to do so (we hear that Alvarez is about marriage equality and that Drive is based on Terrence Malick’s 1970s classic Badlands, for example).
Finishing the Hours material, Funeral play a smattering of classics from their other records, the likes of Into Oblivion (Reunion) providing memorable highlights. Former guitarist Darren Smith is invited onstage for a rousing run-through of Juneau before a clattering Escape Artists Never Die brings the set to a close on a euphoric high. Based on this show, Funeral’s career looks set to end in a similar fashion.
words and photos HUGH RUSSELL